Current Middle East Crisis, Fast & Furious

September 24, 2012

On Friday, September 21st, Accuracy in Media webcasted a major conference in Washington, D.C. called, “ObamaNation: A Day of Truth.” It couldn’t be more timely, as American embassies throughout the Middle East are under attack, a U.S. ambassador was brutally murdered, and the American President is being burned in effigy in countries across the region, including Afghanistan and Pakistan. While the media can’t get enough of Mitt Romney’s secretly taped comments about how many Americans don’t pay federal income taxes and his unfortunate characterization of them, there is very little coverage of what has become increasingly clear—that the Obama administration has been deliberately lying about what they knew, when they knew it and the actual causes of the hostile actions against American diplomats and embassies.

Fox News obtained “a three-page intelligence report showing that two days before the deadly attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya, a statement incited ‘sons of Egypt’ to pressure America to release the so-called blind sheikh ‘even if it requires burning the embassy down with everyone in it.’”

This statement had apparently been posted a couple of days before September 11, when the supposedly spontaneous protests over a crudely made anti-Islamic film began, which included a breach of the U.S. Embassy wall in Cairo. According to Obama administration officials, the actions in Cairo sparked another protest demonstration in Benghazi, Libya, that got out of hand when radicals hijacked it and attacked and killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three Americans with him. According to Fox News military analyst Col. David Hunt, “the State Department just allowed our guys to get killed. If you approve no bullets in guns for the mission security guards and an outhouse for a mission, you’re inviting it.” Hunt said that the security guards weren’t allowed to have bullets, based on rules of engagement that he called “ridiculous,” rules that had been approved and signed by Hillary Clinton.

Finally, on Wednesday, the Obama administration admitted that it was a terrorist attack in Benghazi, rather than a spontaneous demonstration, but it was still short of full disclosure.

Welcome to the Arab Spring. It has been nearly four years since President Obama said to the Muslim world at his inauguration, “We seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest ... but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist…” How’s that working out?

With the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Libya, and across the region, and demands upon the U.S. to release the “Blind Sheikh” Omar Abdel Rahman, the AIM conference brings together two leading experts on these matters. Andrew McCarthy, author of the new book, Spring Fever: The Illusion of Islamic Democracy, successfully prosecuted the Blind Sheikh for his role in the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993; and Frank Gaffney, founder and head of the Center for Security Policy. Mr. Gaffney is the publisher and associate author of Shariah: The Threat to America, and will talk about the Muslim Brotherhood in America.

It was only last Sunday, on This Week with George Stephanopoulos, that UN Ambassador Susan Rice said that the FBI was investigating the event in Libya that killed the four Americans, yet the administration had already repeatedly stated that according to their “best assessment” this was “a spontaneous—not a premeditated—response to what had transpired in Cairo.”

It was President Obama who had just days earlier during an interview on Telemundo, said that Mitt Romney “seems to have a tendency to shoot first and aim later,” which is exactly what his administration was doing. The reason was rather transparent. If he could blame it on a provocative YouTube video, then it must have had nothing to do with his failed Middle East policies.

Another breaking story is a new Inspector General’s report on Operation Fast & Furious, the notorious gun smuggling operation. The report found fault with several agencies, and referred to officials accused of a "disregard" for public safety. One Justice Department official resigned, another retired. But the report in essence cleared Attorney General Eric Holder, at least for the time being. Possible disciplinary action was recommended for 14 other department employees.